Columns for the counter-current contacting of gas and liquid are known in the art. One such device is disclosed by European Patent Application No. 169611. In this device, a liquid distributor is arranged above the gas/liquid contacting means of the column. The liquid distributor is provided with gas risers which communicate with the gas outlet of the column. Use of this contacting device does result, however, in a large amount of the liquid being entrained in the rising gas.
In European Patent Application No. 48508, a device is disclosed wherein the gas/liquid contacting means comprises a plurality of horizontal trays provided with contact swirl tubes arranged in openings of the tray. The contact swirl tubes have side entrances to allow liquid collected on the tray to enter and contact upwardly flowing gas in the contact swirl tube. These tubes also have outlets which communicate with a downcomer which discharges on the underlying tray.
In European Patent Applications 83811 and 124920 similar gas/liquid separators are disclosed which comprise a tray having separation swirl tubes. These separation swirl tubes can be used replacements for the trays of the device of European Patent Application 48508 when provided with a mixing chamber and separate inlets for gas and liquid. Thus, these latter two published applications combine contacting and separation in swirl tubes on each tray. However, it happens in these devices that good contacting will adversely affect separation, and vice-versa. Increasing the efficiency of the separation of each tray will necessarily restrict the flow of gas through that tray and thus reduce the contacting. It would be of advantage to provide a contacting-separation device which effectively performs both operations.